Middle East violence pushes oil prices up

NEW YORK, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Violence in northern Iraq, coupled with word of continued pitfalls in Libya, helped push the price of oil into higher territory in Wednesday trading.

Brent crude oil prices for January delivery moved closer to the $80 per barrel mark in early Wednesday trading.

At least five people died as the result of a suicide bombing Wednesday in Erbil, the capital of the semiautonomous Kurdish north of Iraq. While no group had issued a claim of responsibility, the region has seen an uptick of violence associated with the group calling itself the Islamic State.

The attack comes less than a week after a breakthrough interim agreement reached between the Kurdish and Iraqi governments on oil.

Baghdad under the terms of the deal pays $500 million to the Kurdish government, which places 150,000 barrels of oil produced from its territory per day at the disposal of the federal government in exchange. The deal is meant to help address disputes stemming from various claims to control over the oil sector in Iraq, one of the top producers from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

In Libya, the Islamic State is reportedly waving its banner over government buildings in the east of the country.

#Libya's Elephant and Sharara #oil fields remain closed, with no clear start-up date, NOC spokesman says

— Platts Oil (@PlattsOil) November 19, 2014

Libyan oil production before civil war in 2012 was above 1 million barrels per day, though output has since hovered around 800,000 bpd.

OPEC next week is expected to review its production in the face of increased output from North American shale basins.

West Texas Intermediate, the U.S. benchmark, followed Brent's lead, moving up marginally to $75 per barrel early Wednesday.

The WTI increase follows the late Tuesday defeat of a U.S. Senate bill in favor of the Keystone XL pipeline, meant to bring Canadian crude oil to U.S. refiners situated near key export terminals along the Gulf Coast.